


Jason's Favorite Batgirl

by redrobinfection (ChristmasRivers)



Series: Happy Birthday, Barbara Gordon! [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen, happy birthday babs!, surprise cake is the best cake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2019-01-04 07:35:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12164400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChristmasRivers/pseuds/redrobinfection
Summary: Jason stops by one night to let his favorite Batgirl know just how much he adores and appreciates her. Babs assumes Jason wants something, but she probably should have checked the date first.





	Jason's Favorite Batgirl

"You know, _you_ are my favorite Batgirl, Babs.”

Barbara Gordon raised an eyebrow at Jason Todd. “You like Stephanie.”

Jason tilted his head in acknowledgement and set his ‘hood’ down on a rare patch of relatively clear desk space before leaning back onto one of the many desks holding up a few of the numerous screens Barbara employed in her work as Oracle.

“True. She’s a kickass Batgirl and a fun person to hang around, but you’re still the best.”

“Uh huh,” Babs replied doubtfully, turning back to her work with an air of dismissal. She might have let Red Hood into the Clocktower to talk, but if he didn’t have anything important to say, then she was done listening to him with more than half an ear.

Jason huffed a laugh behind her. “I mean it, Babs. Honest.”

“What about Cass?” Barbara asked absentmindedly.

“Well, she’s pretty kickass too. A regular badass who’s actually a cinnamon-roll who could still actually kick your ass-”

“Did you just poorly reference a meme-”

“-but even Cass isn’t as badass as you are.”

Barbara paused at that compliment then shot an incredulous glare over her shoulder at the smirking man behind her. She pointedly turned her entire wheelchair around to face Jason and crossed her arms. “I’m not a dinner roll, Jay; you can stop buttering me up already. What do you want?”

Jason spread his hands, putting on a mock offended expression. “Baaaaabs! Is it so unbelievable that I would stop by just to let you know how much I adore and appreciate you? Really, why would you think I want something?”

Barbara rolled her eyes. Jason laughed out loud, but persisted to give her hurt puppy dog eyes.

“Well, first off, you came in here just now and started trying to convince me that somehow I’m more badass than Cassandra Cain…”

The teasing expression on Jason’s face morphed into true dismay. “Are you kidding me, Babs? You _are_. Anyone who can train the next gen of badass Batgirls, kick literal ass, _and_ put down criminal organizations with the stroke of a key - all from a _wheelchair -_ is a fucking badass. Lemme see Stephanie or Cassandra do that, huh?”

Barbara sighed and rubbed at her temple. “What do you want, Jason?”

Jason pressed his lips together, cutting off further protests, and stared down at her for a long moment, his lips twisting into a crooked cross between a fond smirk and a frustrated grimace. After a moment his face lit up and an easy smile replaced the odd expression.

“You know what…you’re right, Babs. There is something I need from you.”

Barbara let out a breath. It figured, but at least they were getting somewhere now, and as soon as she granted or denied the Red Hood’s request the sooner she could go back to her work in peace. “Okay. Lay it on me, Hood,” she responded briskly, turning back to her workstation and opening a new file to jot down particulars.

“Here’s the thing, Oracle: today is this particular date and there’s this particular thing I really need you to do for me.”

“Spit it out, Hood. I don’t have all night.”

Silence. Barbara’s fingers hovered over the keys and she frowned as she heard a rustling behind her. Before she could ask, Jason said, “Turn around, Babs.”

Her tsk of exasperation faded on her tongue as she turned her chair back and the light of a single thin candle left an afterimage in her eyes. The thin, colorful candle topped a small, dark-frosted cake that was minimally decorated with the words “HAPPY B-DAY BABS” in red icing.

“I really need you eat a slice of this cake and maybe take, like, I dunno, a five minute break tonight, Babs,” Jason continued, smiling down at her devilishly, the candlelight dancing in his eyes. “If you could have a really happy birthday then that would be amazing and I would totally owe you one.”

Barbara reached over to her desk to grab her pen and threw it at Jason’s head, partially in punishment for his noxious sarcasm, but mostly to hide the small smile cracking through her professional facade. He squawked when it bounced off and almost landed in the small cake he held out to her in both hands and Babs laughed out loud. 

“Also, if you could blow out the candle on this before it ruins the mocha-espresso frosting I engineered just for you, that would be swell,” Jason added quickly in rapidly sobering tone.

Barbara laughed again, but blew out the candle then reached over to turn on one of the desk lamps she frequently forgot to turn on in the dark little alcove of her workspace. Jason backed up, eyes fixed on the cake, and murmured something about popping down to the kitchen for a second to grab plates and forks, but Barbara pushed away from her desk and motioned for Jason to follow her into the elevator.

Five minutes later found them sitting in her well-lit kitchen, attacking slices of the cake with milk to wash it down. Barbara wasn’t ashamed to moan a little over each slice. People could say what they wanted about Jason, but he was a _hell_ of a cook when he wanted to be and that coffee-infused dark chocolate frosting over moist chocolate cake was _divine_.

“Wow, Jason. Thanks so much. This is an amazing cake.”

Jason peered at her over his raised glass of milk and tilted his head. “You’re welcome. Glad you like it - I practically had to keep in under lock and key to keep Tim from eating all the frosting out of the bowl with a spoon.” Babs snorted. She could see that. “But be honest with me, Babs: did you even remember it was your birthday before I shoved a cake into your face?”

Barbara rolled her eyes and swallowed a bite of the cake. “Of course. What kind of 'all-knowing Oracle’ would I be if I forgot my own birthday?” She paused to take a sip of milk then added, “I just didn’t expect you to come in during patrol to make a big deal out of it.” Jason shook his head, muttering that he hadn’t made it any bigger a deal than it actually was, but Barbara cut him off by loading up her fork with a huge chunk of cake and pushing it into his face. Jason startled back and Barbara laughed out loud. “And, by the way, that wasn’t shoving cake into my face; this is,” Babs joked, shoving the huge piece into her mouth as Jason watched.

He laughed and pushed her milk closer, urging her not to choke, and for the next five minutes they chatted and laughed over the cake together. The moment broke when Barbara’s pager beeped to let her know a surveillance program she’d set up earlier that night had gotten a hit that demanded her live attention.

Jason followed her back up to her lair to retrieve his hood but he waited until her surveillance feeds settle down before clearing his throat.

“Oh and if you could do us one last favor, Babs?” Jason asked. She hummed inquiringly without turning. “I know Dick already took you out to dinner, but B and Alfred planned to have you over to the manor tomorrow and I know Tim and Steph and Cass were planning to try to keep you there afterwards for some movie or board-game bonding shit, so if you could, you know, arrange for the Birds of Prey to handle Gotham patrols tomorrow night or something, that would probably make them all really happy.”

Barbara paused and looked over her shoulder at the uncomfortable expression Jason quickly hid under his hood, fiddling with the latches to hide his awkwardness. She considered him with the ghost of a fond smile on her lips for a long moment.

“You going to be there, too?” she asked.

The Red Hood startled slightly then clenched and unclenched his newly re-gloved fists for a few seconds before he finally answered in quiet, electronically modulated tones. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

Barbara smiled. “Then I’ll see you there.”

**Author's Note:**

> My DCU tumblr sideblog is [redrobinfection](http://redrobinfection.tumblr.com/). Read, reblog and like this work on tumblr [here](http://redrobinfection.tumblr.com/post/165638439511/jasons-favorite-batgirl). Thanks for reading!


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